Wednesday, November 09, 2011

From "Dodgers' would-be saviors need to talk" by Ramona Shelburne at ESPNLA.com:

Bidding against each other serves only Frank McCourt and his creditors. Worse, it could leave whichever group wins the auction with a sales bill that would hinder their efforts to quickly rejuvenate the franchise with upgrades to Dodger Stadium or investments in payroll.

"If this thing gets out of hand, the costs eventually get passed back to the fans," one source connected with a potential ownership group said. "That's the last thing that should happen."

It is for this reason Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has kept a cautious distance so far. He's interested in the team, but only if the price makes sense.

And from "McCourt could ignore Kemp before selling Dodgers" by Tim Brown at Yahoo! Sports:

Let’s consider this: Every dollar McCourt spends between now and the time he hands the keys to the next guy could come out of his pocket, taken right off the top of the sale price. This is why teams up for sale are so routinely stripped down first. New owners generally don’t like big debt, or a future of big debt. If someone’s going to hamstring the club for years, they’d rather it be them. Something like that.

So, while Dodgers fans delight over McCourt’s departure and their hand in it, they also might consider McCourt’s absence of motivation to grant them a competitive team in the short term.

Thank you, Mr. & Mrs. Buzzkill. Yeah, I suppose it's time to get over the initial thrill of McCourt's cold, dead hands loosening their grip on the Dodgers and face the reality of everything that could go wrong when a $1.2-billion franchise changes hands. But can't I bury my head in the sand for another couple of weeks?